THE STONELESS PLUM 



AN EXPERIMENT IN TEACHING 

 A PLANT ECONOMY 



I WAS showing some specimens of the remnants 

 of stones in various specimens of my new 

 plums to a visitor one day. I indicated a 

 stone that was like the crescent of the new moon 

 in shape. 



"This," I said, "is my plum as it was when 

 the stone was only partially taken out of it. 

 And this" indicating another one with only a 

 fragment of stone not as large as a grain of 

 wheat "is the same plum four or five generations 

 later." 



The visitor laughed. "That," said he, "reminds 

 me of the museum that showed a skull labeled 

 The skull of William Shakespeare,' and another 

 labeled The skull of William Shakespeare when 

 he was a boy.' There is this difference, however, 

 that Shakespeare's head, according to the museum 

 record, got larger as he advanced in age, whereas 



[VOLUME II CHAPTER IV] 



